Reviving industrial jobs could boost U.S.

When Michele Nash-Hoff landed her first job in the mid-1960s – as an 18-year-old engineering secretary at an electronics manufacturer in Point Loma – manufacturing represented roughly 30 percent of the local economy.

When she launched her firm, ElectroFab Sales, in 1985 after stints at Cubic Corp. and other factories, manufacturing represented 25 percent of the local economy.

Today, that figure has been chopped to roughly 14 percent, and Nash-Hoff, whose firm provides marketing and consulting services for fabrication plants, isn't happy about it. She's launching a personal crusade. Using her own money, she wrote and published a book – “Can American Manufacturing Be Saved?” – and she'll be taking her campaign to the Del Mar Electronics Show on Wednesday and a Republican women's caucus next week.

“Manufacturing is the foundation of the U.S. national economy and the foundation of the country's large middle class,” Nash-Hoff said. “Losing the critical mass of the manufacturing base will result in larger state and federal budget deficits and a decline in U.S. living standards.”

It may seem quixotic to try to revive manufacturing – like trying to stand against the tide. Since hitting a peak in June 2000, factory employment in San Diego County has dwindled by 22 percent, dropping from 124,200 workers to 96,400. Those figures are mirrored nationwide.

Last week's bankruptcy filing by Chrysler and the potential bankruptcy of General Motors will not help matters. Even if both companies survive the reorganization and return to profitability, their journey back to health will undoubtedly entail massive layoffs and a tighter supply chain, further weakening the manufacturing sector.

Craig Giffi, who heads the global manufacturing industry practice at Deloitte, a worldwide consulting firm, said the decline in manufacturing hurts the economy as a whole.

“A strong manufacturing base is critical because it drives innovation, creates well-paying, skilled jobs and raises the standard of living for all of us,” Giffi said.

Manufacturing jobs, which typically pay $20 per hour or more, have historically enabled Americans to rise to the middle class. But partly because of the decline in manufacturing and the rise of low-paid service jobs, only 16 percent of today's workers earn $20 per hour, according to Nash-Hoff's study. After adjusting for inflation, that's a 60 percent decline since 1979.

“As manufacturing jobs have declined over the past 40 years, the difference between the lowest personal income and highest personal income has steadily grown wider,” Nash-Hoff said.

Joel Kotkin, who teaches urban policy at Chapman University in Orange, added that the U.S. shift from manufacturing to services will lead to trouble in the long run.

“The fundamental problem that has developed in the United States over the past several decades is that we have too much consumption and not enough production,” Kotkin said. “We've contented ourselves with thinking we can allow production to go abroad while concentrating on finance and technology here. But history shows that those who have control of production will ultimately have control of finance and technology.”

The Obama administration has recently tried to bolster the manufacturing industry through the economic stimulus package, partly by providing new funding for such green technologies as solar panels, power-generating windmills and fuel-efficient cars.